The University of Pennsylvania grad will become the Parks & Recreation department’s first deputy commissioner for strategy and engagement, a newly created post under Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell. He previously worked as chief of staff in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Environmental and Community Resources in Michael Nutter’s mayoral administration.

After three years w/ @knightfdn in #Philadelphia, I will be leaving the position on January 1st. In partnership, 113+ community-focused grants totaling more than $26 million jump-started citywide participation & energy around public spaces, strengthening civic engagement.

“This was not an easy decision for me or my family, but I think you see what this administration and Parks & Rec are trying to do around public spaces, and it’s really appealing to me,” Morgan told Generocity. “I think it’s the right team at the right place doing a lot of really ambitious work.”

He’s partly talking about Rebuild, the half-billion-dollar redevelopment project for Philly’s ailing rec centers and other public assets that officially began its work this past summer. It is ambitious. But he’s also interested in doing more of the on-the-ground work than is afforded to him at Miami-based Knight.

“You’re in a different chair when you’re a funder than when you’re at the place where programs, policy and a deep connection to citizens are being made day in and day out,” said the East Falls resident.

Morgan and his soon-to-be boss have known each other for about eight years total, thanks to previously overlapping work when he worked for the city before and she headed Fairmount Park Conservancy.

“I’m tremendously excited. He’s been sort of a trusted colleague of mine since I started in this position three years ago” because of the overlap of public space and civic engagement work, Ott Lovell said.

Morgan’s new position, she said, is “a blend of a few different positions” held by Parks & Rec staffers who retired in the past few months.

“We have a great leadership team and have made strides to modernize the department, [which] aligns the department with the administration’s goals around civic engagement and equity and inclusion and trying to create a government that’s effective and efficient,” Ott Lovell said. Still, “there’s so much more I want to accomplish, so bringing the right people on … is really critical.”